10 Things Red Dead Redemption 2 Must Learn From GTA Online
4. Heists Worked Well, But Give Players More Independence This Time
A year on from its release Heists remain as Online's best feature, but don't we think they could've been a lot better?
I mean don't get me wrong, busting people out of prisons and ransacking city vaults are all well and good, but, apart from their grandiose nature, there was little to differentiate heists from the cookie cutter contact missions that had formed the bread and butter of Online since its release.
This was partly because of mission structure, but also because players were never really given the opportunity to carve out their own role in the semi-linear narrative they were given. Unlike in single player, everyone had to follow a predetermined approach and most roles amounted to little more than glorified context-sensitive actions. Not the most empowering of features it must be said.
So this time around, let players choose how they heist. Want to loot a train by setting dynamite to a track and derailing it? You should be allowed to. Or would you rather infiltrate it as everyday passengers and make off with the booty under the cover of darkness? Again, you should be allowed to. Independence is crucial to making something like heists work.